How much do you need to earn to have a similar or better standard of living in another country? We discuss cost of living, quality of life and issues that impact expats. And offer International cost of living index comparison and expat salary calculators.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Moving to Praia

Today we look at moving to Praia in Cape Verde from Sofia in Bulgaria. We highlight cost of living and other major differences likely to be experienced in our series of short blogs on moving between different international locations.
In Sofia people speak Bulgarian. In Praia people speak Portuguese and Crioulo, a mixture of archaic Portuguese and African words.

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. Praia is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde. Sofia is the major economic center of Bulgaria and home to most major Bulgarian and international companies operating in Bulgaria. Sofia is also the country's financial hub. Praia is Cape Verde’s largest city, a commercial center, and a port that ships coffee, sugar cane, and tropical fruits. Praia also has a fishing industry and there are resort beaches nearby.

The overall cost of living rank in Sofia is 244 out of 300 global locations, which equates it with low cost of living locations. An expatriate moving from Sofia to Praia which has an overall cost of living rank of 134, which equates it with middle cost of living locations, will experience a change in cost of living of 21.6%.
In terms of the hardship people are likely to experience, assessed in global terms, Praia is ranked as a high degree of hardship location with a hardship index of 30% compared to Sofia with a hardship index of 30% which is a high degree of hardship location.